Polyesters of many different types have been used for many years in various applications such as molded articles, fibers, and films. Polyesters that are useful in industrial applications have a wide variety of properties but not all polyesters can be used in all applications. Each new polyester is useful for at least one application and then, if its cost is low, it is substituted for existing polyesters in that application. Some new polyesters have such unusual properties that their existence creates a useful application.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,263,364 discloses polyesters of polyethylene terephthalate and polyesters of terephthalic acid, 1,4-cyclohexanedimethanol and ethylene glycol. These polyesters have excellent impact strength.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,037,946, 5,057,595, and 5,011,877 disclose polyesters having high tensile strength.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,003,041 and 5,221,719 disclose polyester blends having good gas barrier properties.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,237,038 discloses polyesters having good properties such as good flexibility and high heat resistance.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,313,777, 3,772,405, 4,263,364 and 4,585,854 generally disclose polyesters that can contain 2,2,4,4-tetramethyl-1,3-cyclobutanediol and have various properties.
A particularly, useful class of polyesters for coatings applications are alkyd resins. Typically alkyd resins are low to moderate molecular weight polyesters which contain reactive functionality to permit crosslinking of the polyester into a high molecular weight film. Thus alkyd resins can be applied to a surface prior to the final crosslinking step. Examples of different alkyd resin systems are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,666,698, 3,699,066, 3,549,577 and 3,494,882.
Research is currently being conducted to develop new polyesters for new applications and new polyesters for existing applications that are less costly and/or have improved properties. This research is focused on combinations of existing monomers (combinations of glycols and polycarboxylic acids) and on the discovery of new monomers for incorporation into polyesters.
In light of the above, it would be very desirable to be able to produce a novel monomer in order to produce novel polyesters from the novel monomer in combinations with other monomers.
Of particular interest would be novel monomers which provide for new and low temperature means for crosslinking in alkyd resins.